


It's a Living

by NXTDNDIMHO



Series: NXTDNDIMHO [3]
Category: Dungeons & Dragons (Roleplaying Game), WWE NXT - Fandom, World Wrestling Entertainment
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-09
Updated: 2020-04-20
Packaged: 2021-02-27 22:34:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,357
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22623379
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NXTDNDIMHO/pseuds/NXTDNDIMHO
Summary: NXT Wrestling Fan is a podcast about falling in love with wrestling. It follows NXT starting 22 May 2013. It's a good show made by lovely people.This episode marked the end of the Wyatt Family's tenure as NXT Regulars, punctuated by a pretty heinous jobber squash. This fired my singular obsession.This work came after Episode XI: Miracle on Mason Ryan Street.
Series: NXTDNDIMHO [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1627138
Kudos: 1





	1. Chapter 1

My wife and I were driving around town when the new Jonas Brothers song came on. Neither of us were particularly into them when they were a thing the first time around, and while their reunion definitely the kind of pop that leverages their name recognition over their particular unique, it's also been putting out some enjoyable tunes that we feel have been made available to us rather than inflicted upon us. This segued into a conversation to how two of the brothers, Joe and Nick, went on to other creative projects while the third, Kevin, stepped back and got married. Kim wondered if he was interested in making music, since he doesn't seem to take to being a rockstar in the same way that his brothers do. I countered that it's a bit unfair to assume that everyone who makes their living performing is primarily interested or really enjoys being famous. There is, rather, a sort of nobility in showing up, putting in good work that enhances the art of others, taking your paycheck and the satisfaction of a job you enjoy having been done well, and going home.

So anyway, that's my story about Kevin Jonas, the Jonas Jobber.

The concept of a Jobber has fascinated me since the first time I was introduced to it as one of the playbooks in the World Wrestling RPG. It fits neatly into my penchant for playing support classes and trying to find jobs where I can work on a bunch of auxiliary tasks so that other people can focus on the main task of whatever needs to be done. I don't know if I could in good conscience say that Aiden English has those same sort of values, but he's also the only jobber we've seen more than once or twice in this show's purview, so he's the one I'm kind of mapping those particular ideas on to.

I think that Bard is the perfect class for expressing the way in which a Jobber is useful: they are good at a lot of things (slightly better at everything, in fact, with their Jack of All Trades feature). They have some fine combat skills, but their core features are designed to be relational. Bardic Inspiration allows you� to position another player to perform their task more effectively. Their spells almost universally require some sort of performative aspect in order to cast, and their list is dominated by spells that involve some sort of condition. They are designed less to resolve conflicts than to stir the pot. They are the setup to their opponent's punchline.

In terms of Aiden English in particular here... honestly, I don't know a ton about him and his wikipedia page doesn't start thickening out until about 2014. To that end, I set him at level 2 because he has enough experience under his belt that he isn't a complete neophyte, but he also isn't developed enough to have the specificity that most characters reach by level 3, which is when most classes have their sub-class and you start getting level 2 spells. I also gave him the "Guild Artisan" background because that's kind of where he's at; he's a jobber, so the most interesting thing about him is that he can get and do jobs. He is working now for the promise of a payout later on.

When it came to picking spells, I decided it would be best to think not only what he might use to help himself, but also what he might use to help put over his opposition (you know, his job). False Life gives him a strong start, ahead of where he's ever going to come back to. Heroism boosts the prestige of his opponent or partner. Blade Ward lets him take a bigger hit than he might otherwise be able to sustain. Other than that, however, I don't know that there's a ton more to say about Aiden English at this point. I've enjoyed watching him get triple five-counted so far, and if the stuff coming up in his Wikipedia is as fun as it sounds, I think we're going to enjoy seeing the gimmicks he settles into.


	2. He Sings Now!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The last two episodes have featured Aiden English's ascendency to full gimmickry. He has leveled up.
> 
> This work came after Episode XIX: Well, I Didn't Vote For You

Character Advancement is the defining feature of the RPG. Not what we think of as role play, which raises questions about the nomenclature, but rather the way the game mechanically expresses the process of learning and becoming better at accomplishing your goals.

In my opinion, the three most important levels when creating a D&D character are 1, 3, and 5. Though I will hopefully have a place to say more on how I feel about D&D's level structure and what sort of adventures or stakes are more appropriate for different levels and tiers, that's not really what we're here for. Suffice it to say that if level 1 is starting at college, level 3 is probably around Junior year, after you've cleared most of your Gen Ed courses and have largely settled into your Major coursework, deciding on the flavor of your education and future. Level 5 is post-graduation, when you (and do remember this is a game about exploring empowerment fantasies) become a professional in your chosen field, maybe go on to higher education, but you have gained all the basic skills you need to do your job as well as access to more powerful resources (particularly an Extra Attack or 3rd level spells) and have the insight required to better utilize your training (as signified by a gain in your Proficiency Bonus). Put another way, level 3 is broadly interested in enhancing the flavor of a character, while level 5 enhances their effectiveness. Maybe we'll talk about level 5 some day, but for today, Mr. English has hit level 3. Time for him to go to College.

When I originally built a character for Aiden English, I was drawn to making him into a bard even before I read ahead to learn about his gimmick. Bard is the ideal class for a jobber because they rely on performance as a means of support, and the function of a jobber is to perform in a manner that enhances the reputation of the person squashing them. It was delightful to learn that, when he emerged into the full spotlight, he was going to be the singing wrestler.

As someone who has spent enough time singing to start seeing the stratification among higher quality performers, I feel qualified in saying that he's fine. It's a little bit pitchy, but I think a competent vocal coach and a few hours a week would take him quite a ways into being properly good. That said, the thing I'm most impressed with is that he's out there doing the thing. The mic and the room are doing him zero favors, he sings after wrestling, which plays fucking havoc on your breath support, and he carries it off with a sort of causal confidence - actual, professional confidence in his ability to perform up to expectations, not the sort of delusional hubris that animates Tyler Breeze's pretty boy con to a small extent and is the entire substance of Bo Dallas's unearthly being. He understands that he is the wrestler who also sings, which is why, as part of his character advancement, I specked him into the College of Blades.

If you're going to pick up one 5e book, it had better be the _Players Handbook_ , because you could functionally run an entire game using just that and then googling some online resources. If you get a second book, I like the _Monster Manual_ to help inspire adventures, but for the third book, if you really want to expand your options and up your game, _Xanathar's Guide to Everything_ is amazing. It has a radically expanded spell list, a collection of 'common' magic items that include things like a armor that is constantly smoking and a wand that forces people to smile, artwork that conveys just buckets of attitude and action, and includes commentary from a Beholder who is obsessed with his pet goldfish and also world domination, but the most important thing is that it provides a number of extra options for sub-classes, many of which provide some specific flavor that the base classes were missing. I think the new Bard Colleges are an excellent example of this. In the base PHB _(Players Handbook),_ your level 3 options were to either gain even more skill proficiencies (for a total of 6 from the class alone, when most classes only grant 2) and make your buddies harder to hit or become marginally better in a melee and let your buddies determine when they want to either deal more damage or become harder to hit. Both good, both hardy, but also kind of bland. _Xanathar's_ course corrected in a big way, giving us the College of Glamour (for those whose only goal is seduction) and the College of Blades (for those whose only goal is stabbing). Aiden English's first two performances have indicated that his performances are intended to be more of a single act for now, and that is why I went with College of Swords.

Part of the lore included with the College of Swords is that 'Blades,' which is the title given to this kind of bard, often have a sort of split-occupation. While it wouldn't be unusual for a Blade to use swords or knives in their performance, their life as a performer is often segregated from their function as an adventurer. I really like the way this plays with the way that wrestling tells its stories, because in some ways this is antithetical to the whole idea of gimmicks and yet doesn't feel out of place. All professional wrestlers are performers, and combat is their craft. Aiden English's gimmick is that he is a performer who also wrestles. He performs, then performs, then performs again and quick question is that old Xzibit meme still in use? It's delightfully recursive and, like a lot of this house of cards that makes up pro-wrestling narrative, fall apart when you look at it too hard, but then someone comes in to backfill how the house falling apart was actually the plan all along and this goes on ad infinitum. So yeah, College of Swords makes you fight good, fight fancier. I like it a lot.

So that was the biggest choice I had to make for Aiden English. Choosing your sub-class is probably one of the most impactful decisions you make in the game, after character creation at level 1, but there is a lot of maintenance that gets done when leveling up. To that end, I'm going to share the steps I go through when leveling a character, as well as how how Aiden's sheet has changed between levels:

  * Increase max HP and Hit Die: Each class has a particular type of hit die, and you get 1 die per level in that class. They help determine your max HP and are expended to restore HP during rests. When increasing your You can either roll your hit die or take 1/2 the die's max roll+1, then add your Constitution Modifier. 
    * I got a 4 on the die roll and Aiden's Con Mod is +2, so he now has 3d8 hit die and 22HP.
  * Find the correct line in your class's progression table 
    * For Proficiency Bonus, use the sum of your characters levels across all classes; this goes up at levels 5, 9, 13, and 17. 
      * Aiden's proficiency bonus remains at +2
    * Add the Class Features as detailed. 
      * Bard College: College of Blades. This added a number of effects, including granting him proficiency with Medium Armor (I also upgraded his armor, which has increased his Armor Class and also given him Disadvantage on Stealth rolls), the Dueling Fighting Style (+2 damage with 1-handed melee attacks), and his Blade Flourishes (a new function for his Bardic Inspiration).
      * He also gained Expertise, which allows him to add is Proficiency Bonus twice when rolling two skills he is proficient in. I chose Athletics (changing his bonus from +3 to +5) and Performance (+5 to +7). The neat thing here is that when his Proficiency Bonus increases at level 5, he'll gain +2 rather than +1, to his Athletics and Performance checks.
    * Update Cantrips: Even if you do not gain an additional Cantrip, you can substitute one for another. It also may behoove you to check your damaging cantrips, and some of them increase in damage as your character's level increases. 
      * I had originally picked Blade Ward because it would allow him to get beaten up more and longer. Now that he's not jobbing anymore, I figured any good heel would eventually want to weaponize insults and so exchanged Blade Ward for Vicious Mockery.
    * Update Spell Slots and Spell List: This process varies slightly from class to class, but you can usually expect to pick up at least 1 new spell per level, a few more spell slots, and a new Spell Level every other level. Classes that require you to manage spells only at level up allow you to exchange one spell for another on at this time. 
      * Aiden is slowly progressing away from being pure support and into gaining his own forms of aggression. To that end, I figured he would be less interested in reading the crowd (so I dropped Sense Emotion) and more interested in whispering sweet nothings so terrifying that his enemies get a headache and run away. Also, Aiden got his first level 2 spell slots and therefor his first level 2 spell. I chose Enthrall, because having an 'All Eyes on Me' spell is a very Bard thing to do. I imagine this spell is cast through the tone of command he employs when he says, "Spotlight." during his ring entrance and maintained by him singing. I think it's worth noting here that, again, he isn't a profoundly great singer, but he doesn't have to be. He has to carry the tune and do it with enough confidence and precision that we don't feel awkward and look away.




End file.
